Breaking news: Historic Hurricane Milton's impact imminent, with potentially catastrophic damage in Florida

Crucial hours are being experienced in Florida (United States) with the arrival of one of the most dangerous tropical cyclones in recent history. Milton will make landfall tonight, Wednesday, in the west of the peninsula as a major and extremely dangerous hurricane. Days ago, nobody imagined this scenario.

Milton suffered an intensification rarely seen last Monday while moving through the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, going from category 1 to category 5 in a matter of 12 hours, with sustained winds of around 285 km/h.

Milton more than doubled that definition on Monday, at a pace similar to that of Wilma and another record-breaking storm, Hurricane Felix in 2007, The New York Times reported.

Milton alternated between category 4 and 5 in the last hours

On Tuesday, Milton weakened slightly as it began the typical eye wall replacement process that characterises large tropical cyclones, but then returned to Category 5 strength in the afternoon with sustained winds of 270 km/h.

On Wednesday, as it returned to Category 4 status, it appeared that the hurricane was once again entering a process of replacing its eye, prior to impacting on the west coast of Florida, reported BCC.

What is eyewall replacement in a hurricane with Milton?

The eyewall is one of three major parts of the structure of major tropical cyclones: the other parts are the eye itself, and the outer rain bands. The eyewall is precisely the area closest to the eye. "It consists of a ring of high thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and, generally, the strongest winds," explains the National Hurricane Center (NHC) about this area of the hurricane.

Changes in the structure of the eye or its wall can make a cyclone's winds stronger or weaker. "The eye can grow or shrink in size and double walls can form," the NHC notes. As hurricanes intensify, the eyewalls become narrower and more intense until they reach peak strength for the energy available.

At this point, a new eye wall can begin to form on the outside of the inner eye wall of the previous eye, cutting off fuel for the inner wall and eventually causing it to disappear. When hurricanes go through this process, which usually happens while they are strengthening, they momentarily stop gaining strength.

This can take 12 to 18 hours or even up to two or three days to complete, and these cycles can occur several times over the life of a tropical cyclone, BBC explains.

The latest information on Hurricane Milton and the potential catastrophic risks

The most recent Public Notice issued by the NHC at the time of writing this report, it was 2:00 p.m. local time on Wednesday, the 9th of October, which indicated that Milton was advancing as a Category 4 with sustained winds of 215 km/h, moving northeast at an average speed of 26 km/h, and located 240 km southwest of Tampa.

According to the official report, on the forecast path, the eye of Milton will make landfall along the west coast and center of Florida, cross the Florida peninsula during the early morning and early Thursday, and move off the east coast of Florida over the western Atlantic Ocean the same day.

Milton is expected to remain an extremely dangerous major hurricane when it reaches the west coast and central Florida tonight, and to remain at hurricane strength as it moves across the Florida peninsula through Thursday.

In addition to hurricane-force wind speeds (over 120 km/h) in areas close to the impact of the eye of the cyclone on land, heavy rains with the risk of sudden and catastrophic flooding are also another of the main associated risks.

Precipitation values of 150 to 300 mm are estimated in the central band of the Florida peninsula that Milton would cover, with accumulations of over 450 mm in a matter of 24 hours.